


Solid Gold

by the_partedglass



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:47:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_partedglass/pseuds/the_partedglass
Summary: A story of the happenings of our weekly, Friday night D&D game as told through the eyes of me and my disaster wizard, and occasionally other characters I'd be able to write.Welcome to the world of Kardine, a world in danger facing the rising threat of undead and fiends aiming to take over the world. One in particular: the result of the gods boredom. Alastair Sazakriel, a deathknight with a vengeance, a succubus and incubus named Adam and Eve, a black dragon named Laraek, and a building army of undead aiming to raise the god killer: a tarrasque laying dormant beneath the continent.Our gaggle of dumbasses called The Rune Keepers, has set out to stop him, searching for the four elemental runestones to be able to stop Sazakriel's plans.
Relationships: Akiro/Bianna, Amafrey/Magnus, Beau/Kyoku, Robin/Ascal
Comments: 6
Kudos: 2





	1. A Night Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character Introductions:
> 
> (Current PC) Beauregard Norixius: High Elf Evocation Wizard/Eldritch Knight Fighter  
> (Current PC) Kyoku Dath'toch: Tiefling Lore Bard  
> (Current PC) Amafrey Fallmore: Human (for now) Storm Herald Barbarian/ Oath of Vengeance Paladin  
> (Current PC) Xander Flint: Shifter Arcane Trickster  
> (Current PC) Akiro Lightstone: Aarakocra Hunter Ranger  
> (NPC Party Member) Vis: Human Alchemist Artificer  
> (NPC) Bianna: Drow Champion Fighter
> 
> (Future PC) Ascal Bidi: High Elf Grave Cleric  
> (Future PC) Kallie: Cosmoborn Circle of the Moon Druid  
> (Future PC) Robin Lockmont: Human Necromancy Wizard  
> (Future PC) Drazine Vunxer: Pink Dragonborn Battlemaster Figher/ Hexblade Warlock

The sun was setting as yet another night fell, the golden hues of dusk settling into a cold darkness. Finding a place on the side of the road and settling down, ten minutes later Tiny Hut went up and encased the party within its protective bubble. After the huge fight from earlier that afternoon, everyone was exhausted. Xander took up first watch being one of the few who hadn’t suffered too much during the fight somehow. Everyone else fell into a more or less peaceful sleep. Akiro curled up beside Bianna who tranced away, Amafrey sprawled out on the far side of the bubble, Beatrix and Vis took another area of the hut to themselves, and Beau and Kyoku were together too. 

Trances work a bit differently than sleeping does, dreams take the forms of memories both good and bad. Reliving past mistakes or grandeurs, failure and success. Tonight was a night of reliving failures for Beau after getting knocked out flat in two rounds and being unable to help. Spells kept missing or not doing enough while everyone else was on their game. It was unrestful as he relived memories of his companions being more helpful or more valuable assets to the team. Memories from way back when people had to cover for his shortcomings in life; socially, mentally, and combatively. Four hours passed in what felt like forever. The first watch passed without issue and as agreed, Beau traded off with Xander for the rest of the watches. Xander soon fell asleep as Beau gently moved Kyoku off his lap and onto the makeshift pillow of a bag as he took watch.

It was a quiet night, growing colder through the night as autumn was giving way to winter. The once comforting chirps of crickets now silenced in the cold as a breeze rustled the leaves of the trees around them. It was an empty night; one of a haunting quietude. The kind of night where even the dull glow of the moon isn’t company enough to keep one out of their thoughts. Beau sat staring out into the distance, seeming to keep a watch on the road and the woods surrounding them, though his mind wandered as the dreams of his trance kept nagging at his conscience.

Weak. Coward. Clumsy. Stupid. Mindless. Dense. Inadequate. Spineless. Awkward. Unnecessary. Those words cycled through his mind as he stole his gaze from the dark depths of the surrounding area to glance around the companions that lay asleep around him. With each member, words came to mind. Akiro: brave, friendly. Amafrey: strong, courageous. Beatrix: curious, kind. Kyoku: powerful, charismatic. Xander: dextrous, calculating. Bianna: adept, tactful. Aron: intelligent, collected. Everyone has something positive, a strength. Everyone is able to do so much and contribute to the group. But Beau could not find a positive word to describe himself with. What could he contribute to the party? A destructive bout of fire? A strike with a sword? Nothing that someone else couldn’t already do and do better than him. All he seemed to bring was trouble. The group couldn’t even have more than an hour of peace in the capital city because of him and his choices. People of power were suspicious of him wherever they might have gone. Who truly needed him around? Who would miss him if he were gone? Who would be glad to see him gone?

He knew, looking at this group of people that they would be just as strong without him or even stronger. Beau knew that each individual would always be a step ahead of him. Amafrey and Akiro would always be braver, stronger, and faster. Beatrix would always be wiser, a better scholar and mentor. Xander would always be more stealthy and agile. And well Kyoku would just… be better, in every aspect Beau could think of. More adept with the arcane, better with people, better with words, more charismatic and charming, better looking… and just… better. Better than Beau could ever hope to be.

He was pulled from his thoughts a moment later as a drop fell onto his hand. He had hardly noticed the tears that managed to streak down his cheeks while he was lost in his mind. He cursed quietly to himself, using his sleeve to wipe away the evidence before trying to return his attention to the darkened world around them. Even that seemed to be too much as he stared blankly into the trees on the other side of the path. Tiny hut kept them all warm, though even that could not warm the numbing sensation that caused Beau to shiver a bit, the sinking rock of inadequacy sitting in the pit of his stomach that spread the cold from the inside out. 

Within a few hours, the dim rays of dawn stretched out across the eastern sky as the sun rose its sleeping head in the early hours of the morning. The dark and cold loneliness of the night began to fade at the warmer embrace of sunlight as the clouds that dotted the horizon turned hues of dusky yellows and deep oranges. The sky fading from black to blue and into the red-orange of dawn. Tiny hut dispelled and soon the other companions roused from dreams of their own. Amafrey and Akiro went hunting that morning while the others were still just waking.

It was an easy morning, most everyone slowly rising as a small fire was started from the ashes of the one from the night prior and breakfast was made from game Amafrey and Akiro had acquired. The quiet of nature was broken as the birds began chirping their songs and the woods around them finally roused. Another day of travel lay ahead of the group and once breakfast was over and the fire put out, they packed up their things and set out on the road again towards who knows what, and no one was any the wiser of the events of the previous night…


	2. The Underdark

A week later, the party had set off into the Underdark to retrieve the fire rune. Along the way, fighting some bullettes, helping an earth elemental find his pet bullettes, a maze of hallways and floors. Dropping down into a pool of water and fighting a handful of Gricks, to meeting a few vampires. Being chased by a beholder and dropping down many pitfalls though the final one was the one that began a change of the party’s luck. The vampires were a known problem after running into Sergei and Aleena, the alleged treasure hunters. The party didn’t expect to get stuck in a pit and have a vampire recognize one of them, and for Beatrix to just leave them behind. The vampires cleared out and a moist, meaty thwacking sound of KuaToa feet ran towards them. He was a helpful fish dude named Choggloshuup. He removed the wire net covering the top of the hole and after some talking, led the group towards the city of Nuu Bloquay. After a few exchanges and almost getting kicked out of the city, the party got to meet the pseudo-god of this group of KuaToa: a kraken by the name of Gennadios. He was more than happy to hand over the fire rune but just as things were looking up, two KuaToa ran to them in a panic. An army of massive proportions of undead were fast approaching, led by a figure in dark black armor with two all too familiar fiends at either side as they rode on nightmares. 

As a favor for the fire rune, Gennadios requested the party to divert attention away from the city to buy the city enough time to evacuate. Ten minutes to plan, ten minutes until the party stood before an army of undead, led by none other than the death knight Alastair Sazakriel. The plan was simple, nobody could think too much and it was the only plan that even had a marginal chance of working. Beau pitched it to the group: one group takes a decoy fire rune and runs while a smaller group takes the actual rune and runs the opposite way. The groups split up, Akiro, Beau, Bianna, Aaron, Vis and Xander would go together with the fake rune to try and deceive it as being the true runestone and more important. Amafrey and Kyoku took the true fire rune with them and ran the other way… to a dead end. The first group fought their way through a few wights and zombies to the end of a hallway seemingly sealed by a stone door. Those who cast arcane magic felt a surge of energy once Xander opened the door with the earth runestone. 

In front of them seared a leyline, the source of all arcane magic on Nianus. The power surge of magic in the casters heightened and as the larger group began to move in and explore, the sound of metal against the stone echoed behind them. One death knight, then another, and then Sazakriel, with one hand each around the necks of the unconscious Kyoku and Amafrey.

“Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Sazakriel warned. Time seemed to freeze as the larger party looked on in a mix of fear, desperation, and hopelessness. They were stuck. A choice had to be made. Someone had to do something. Beau stepped forward, uncertain if his idea would work. One idea had already failed and put them here, another one gone awry would get them all killed this time. 

“I don’t play nice,” he hissed as he raised a hand and directed it at the one holding his friends hostage. A slew of fire blast forth from his hands, the usual flames burning twice as bright and twice as hot, nearly turning blue from the surge caused by the leyline. Fourteen blasts of fire blasting holes through Sazakriel and his armor. One caused him to drop his hold on Amafrey, another sent him to his knees, but that other hand never let go of Kyoku. The smoke had hardly cleared as Beau strode up and shot a point blank firebolt through the deathknight. His helmet knocked off and revealed two burning motes of red where his eyes would go and an indigo mist that formed some semblance of a face. 

“The hard way it is,” Sazakriel chuckled as he stood back up. With one swift motion the body of Kyoku was tossed like a ragdoll towards the leyline. Hardly a second later, Beau tried to save something with featherfall and well, it saved about half of his boyfriend. Featherfall bought enough time that Kyoku drifted almost past the leyline but the tip of his tail touched the energy and within a second, his tail and everything from the belly button down, disintegrated, the wound cauterizing instantaneously as he continued to fall to the bottom of the ravine area. 

After draining the life force from one of the two death knights, Sazakriel returned his attention to the mage in front of him and with one hit sent him flying back fifteen feet and left almost dead. They tried to fight it, only for Xander to get knocked unconscious and the map of Kardine with the markings of the runestones was thrown to the leyline by Sazakriel. The only way out… was to run. They knew this fight would be unwinnable. Akiro flew down to pick up what was left of Kyoku’s body as the party ran. Vis had fallen behind the group and Akiro went back to get her. They ran. They ran for hours and hours without stopping. Running for everything they had left. The party came to an area after the ground began to slope up that was reminiscent of a storm drain and rested for a minute. They all leaned against the walls and Beau sat beside Kyoku. Beau knew that he wouldn’t make it out of there… but he didn’t want to have to face that fact. He didn’t want to watch the only person he loved die with there being nothing he could do to help him… but he did. Kyoku reached over weakly, pulling Beau close to him.

“What we’ve done together, is more than either of our families could have ever seen us doing. No matter what your father may think of you, you’re always… you’re always more than anyone could ever imagine. The people we’re with now is more of a family than anyone could have hoped to have. There’s nothing more powerful than the people you love because you want to and not because you have to.” Kyoku stopped for a moment to catch what little breath he could before continuing, trying to sound as steady as he could, though his voice often faltered.

“No matter what happens, always follow the wind wherever it takes you and destiny is always going to find you.” He paused, his voice choking a bit as he managed to crack a small smile. “And when you finally get back to your dad, kick his ass for me please.”  
A small wave of thunder rolls from the back of the cave they were in as Kyoku’s fingertips and hands light up with a soft mix of a silver and gold light and pulls Beau close once more. 

“You’re solid gold, baby…” he whispered softly to him. Kyoku let out one final shaky breath out and shut his eyes for the last time, falling into dead weight in Beau’s arms. The air was colder here than it had been before as Beau pulled away from the now dead Kyoku. He reached up gently to brush a bit of his hair from his face.

“Solid gold…” Beau repeated softly, his voice faltering before he pressed a gentle kiss to the tieflings forehead. He couldn’t stop the tears from streaking down his face as he looked at the lifeless face of the person who made him feel the most alive. Amafrey insisted that the group continue to move as they were almost out of the caves. Beau was the one to carry what was left of Kyoku out and into the open. The air was cold, bitter, melancholic, and heavy. The sounds of the ocean permeated through the otherwise silent atmosphere as the group gazed over the cliff towards it before beginning their descent down to the beach. 

While trying to figure out what to do just outside the tunnels, the sound of footsteps descended and a familiar voice was heard behind them. 

“Tell the general…” the voice stops upon seeing the group. It was none other than Magnus Holst who had walked in on their affairs. He looked across the group, across the bloodied, bruised, and some tear-stained faces of them before turning him and his subordinate the other way, walking away from the group.

“Tell the General that I’ll change the subject of my investigation to these fiends and what they want and put the search for his son on hold.” 

As Magnus left a clear escape, the party found a hidden canoe and started making their way down the shore to find a canoe, large enough to carry all of them as they paddled their way towards Steepwater. The ocean seemed to aid them as they went, even when they stopped paddling, the current carried them steady and up onto the shore. Once they were standing on the beach and once more wondering what to do, a figure rose from the water and walked atop of it towards them. Amafrey raised her sword in suspicion and caution, only lowering it after Beau convinced her to. The figure strode up to them with grace. He seemed to be a small child though he spoke as someone of many years.

“Let me start by saying: my condolences. I know not what happened, but I can offer my sympathy nonetheless,” he began. The figure introduced himself as Arethousar, the God of the Seas and explained he was there because of a disturbance. The minor god that the KuaToa had made of the kraken was nearly killed, and Arethousar was there to find out why. 

The party explained the events that transpired to the god who in turn returned with a story of his own: who exactly is… or was Alastair Sazakriel. A paladin who broke his oath by going too far who was damned by the gods many years ago. 

The party listened intently to the tale the god spun and afterwards, they discussed the rune stones. The air rune was the last they needed, and when they disclosed it was in Drak’Oni lake, Arethousar slipped away for a moment before returning with confirmation that the rune was most likely there but also brought a warning that something was happening there too. 

That was the end to that part of the conversation and another conversation needed to start. Amafrey was the one to bring it up: where to bury what was left of Kyoku’s body. After a bit of debating, Arethousar spoke up.

“I can take him with me, and guarantee his soul safe passage. Would that be alright?” 

“It would be appreciated, it… would be very much appreciated,” Beau managed.

With this permission granted, Arethousar picked up the half body of the tiefling and began his way down the beach. He was about halfway to the ocean edge when Beau ran over.

“If I may, I have one last request.”

“What is it?”

Beau reached into his pocket for a moment before pulling out a small box and a folded note. He held them for a moment before handing the items out. 

“Please… take these.”

Arethousar looked at the items curiously for a moment before taking them. He seemed to understand and promised to make sure Kyoku got them. He disappeared into the waves as the party watched from the shoreline.

After a while, Vis walked up to Beau and cleared her throat gently, nervously wringing her hands. 

“I-I… I’m sorry..,” she managed.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Beau tried to explain.

“I-I felt like there was at least something I could have done…”

“You did everything you could have,” he paused for a moment before sighing a bit, “you did good back there.”

There was a long pause before Vis spoke up again. “I… I don’t want anyone else to be hurt”

“We can take you home if you want,” he offered, “you don’t have to come with us.”

“I think it would be best for her,” Amafrey chipped in. 

Akiro nodded in agreement. “I-I don’t want her to be traumatized anymore”

“My home, is an empty shell, in the bad side of town” Vis started, looking across the group, “I would rather be out, trying to help people, so that this… doesn’t happen again.”

Vis gathered a little bit of courage and shut her eyes tight, “Can… Can I please come with you?”

The group looked between each other before coming to a final conclusion. Akiro was the first to say yes, and Xander and Amafrey followed suit. Beau managed to crack a very small smile. 

“Welcome to the group… or. I should say, welcome to the family” he told her.

Vis’ face lit up in a split second of happiness and reached into her bag, pulling out her small stack of scripted social interaction cards. “I-I won’t let you down!” she promised with a hopeful grin spreading across her face.


	3. Steepwater

After all was said and done, the party headed up towards the city of Steepwater for the night. The walk was a quiet one, conversation seeming trivial as the tired group trudged towards the light of the city slowly approaching. The tavern was not hard to find and everyone pitched in for their rooms and partnered up though Beau had a room by himself. Food and drinks were had and for once, Beau joined the drinking… and joined in hard. Beyond just the few drinks of ale or whatever at the table, before going up to his room for the night, he went over to the bartender, and bought a bottle of something he never thought he would buy for himself. Whiskey bottle in hand, he waved the group goodbye and went to his room. 

Once the door was shut and locked, he let out a heavy sigh and broke the cap off the top of the bottle and set it to his lips and just drank a good quarter of the bottle before going to sit on the bed. Beau let his eyes wander and gaze up at the empty ceiling, defeated and broken. He felt like he could just burst into tears at any given second but just… couldn’t. Nothing would come, just memories upon memories of regret… of not being able to do enough… or just memories of better times. The taste of the whiskey just reminded him of Kyoku, how that was the taste that was always on his lips when he would kiss him. A taste he had grown to love over the years. And even the smell of it had come to mean home and comfort to him. It hurt to no end but it was one thing to try and spark something so a settling numbness and emptiness wouldn’t stay and engulf him. 

All of the memories brought both comfort and pain. Memories of cool autumn afternoons on the road with the Sage Gang, shenanigans of helping Beatrix make a leaf pile and her and Kyoku practically swan diving into the gigantic pile. The memories of the music that was their laughter playing bittersweetly in his ears. Long nights spent snuggled up with Kyoku when the air got colder and even blankets weren’t enough to fight off a bitter wind. Nights where the drum of a steady heartbeat was all the comfort in the world. Nights where the world didn’t feel so mean… 

Peaceful moments of just sitting together reading with a head on his shoulder with an arm around his waist. Memories of snowball fights that always ended up in a draw. Memories of all of the smaller moments. Every kiss, every embrace, every soft moment, he could almost feel like a ghostly touch: almost there… but never tangible. Now to never be tangible again. The feeling would only exist in his memory and he could never erase the memory of the moment everything was torn away. Everything, gone in an instant. The golden stained leather bracelet fastened around his wrist was one of the few tangible things left. Something that wouldn’t be gone in the blink of an eye… something to hold onto still. 

Everything ached, not only from the battles of the day, but of grief. An ache that sits like lead in your stomach and weighs you down like a ball and chain you can’t break free from. A weight that keeps you on your knees, unable to stand. A weight that drags you to the bottom of the ocean, a weight that doesn’t care when your last breath leaves as you just sink further and further down. It took only a second before hot tears spilled down his cheeks, his voice breaking as he curled in on himself. 

“I… I can’t do this without you… I don’t- I don’t want to do this without you…” he managed to choke out as he shook as sobs racked his body. He tried to return to a happier memory. Only to find the memory from years before, to a song the two of them had danced to many times. A soft tune of celebration and of love. Without thinking, he began to hum the tune softly, knowing he wouldn’t be able to form the words. For the Dancing and the Dreaming: a song neither could finish singing and would go unfinished now forever. 

“If you will marry me…” he sighed to himself. He thought about the ring he had gotten made for him by Korgo to someday propose. Beau’s mind wandered to the what-if’s of the future they might have had, the what-could-have-been’s of a life. “Someday I thought I would have gotten the courage to ask…” he managed.   
“I hope… in another time we can be together for longer… five years isn’t enough.” He moved his head to look back up at the ceiling before deciding on another drink. It burned going down, a feeling he never enjoyed but it was the only thing he could feel besides numb. “I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry… I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe…” he would have said more if another flood of tears hadn’t begun. It took a few minutes before it had stopped as the weight of loss settled in his chest. 

“I miss you…” Beau sniffled a bit, “but maybe someone, in another time will remember us. Someone can fill in the gaps and write a better ending for us… fate was never kind before you came around, but I guess good things aren’t made to last.”

Within another hour the bottle sat empty on the floor as Beau laid curled up around a pillow, staring blankly at nothing in particular. The room was cold and quiet. It was a cold that could not be chased away by drink nor blanket nor fire. It was a cold that felt empty, like the cold of when the person you love gets up to get something and you realise just how warm they kept you. Nothing would chase that chill away nor could it stop the shivers causing him to tremble. He knew he would never be able to really escape from this, never be able to truly move on. Not with how his dreams worked, how his memories would always return.   
It would never end, would it? The world would continue to move forward, others would continue to live and die. The fight wasn’t over but would it ever be over? Would everything turn out okay? Would their little party of adventurers be enough to save everyone from an unkillable monstrosity of a husk of a person? Was it all in vain? Who else would have to die before Sazakriel would fall? Who else?


	4. New Friends and Missadventures

It was another half a week of travel after that before a few new players came into view. While walking by the forests, the party stumbled across the sound of singing, and like dumbasses, followed it. The source they found to be two elven ladies, pulling a strange red flower from the ground. The flower, inconveniently, was attached to a fire giant. After the fight that ensued, and introductions were had, the party told of what type of information they were searching for and the new girls, Kallie and Ascal, said they may by chance know someone. So off they went, in the search for more information.

After another two days' travel, the party came across a tower in the plains and after some talking, a spell being set off, and some negotiations, the party was permitted into the tower of The Necromancer, a young man of 19 named Robin. The party explained their situation and how Robin might be of assistance, and once enough information was said to entice him, Robin agreed to help. Night had begun to fall as a body The Necromancer had been working on, mysteriously jumped up, stealing a spell scroll and running. A note materialized with the name of a location scrawled on it. Once dawn had risen the next day, the tower fell and the party set out east towards this city of Carrow.

Carrow held some adventures for the group, Ascal using her abilities as a cleric to seek out the disguised undead that took the scroll, Adam and Eve appearing and summoning a Horned Devil to fight the party, to having a spa day after being pelted with perfectly carved wooden dicks. Robin's information was stored at his home on a small island off the coast of Kardine so to the mansion they went, only to find his family dead under some illusion magic. The home was left in ruins, burned, torn asunder after the fight. Adam and Eve, standing on the burning top of the roof with the infant niece of Robin’s in their care. 

More shenanigans ensued on the seas as they took the ferry from the island to the city of East Alryne. Saving a few hundred people with trashing a shipment of cloud flower tea, Kallie leading the entire boat in singing sea shanties, Vis keeping Beau company, and formulating a plan to con the Shining Guard. It was overall a good time! Even after the con had failed and a strange mist surrounded Kallie and this large white Elk in some mysterious druidic circumstances. The party then headed out of the port city to the town of Drakyai; a town residing next to Lake Drak’oni. The air rune was kept within the lake and fish were just surfacing from the bottom, items lost long ago to the 1000 foot deep lake were being forced to the surface by mysterious circumstances. It was also where the air rune was though the party had no clue how to get to it. Kallie tried to swim down but could barely make it halfway to the bottom before the current pushing up forced her to return to the surface. 

While Kallie was swimming about, a strange merchant caught Beau’s attention. Upon going over and talking to the man, he learned this mysterious merchant was looking to get a piece of land in Veritas and had a deed to a house within Drakyai to trade for the deed to the land in Veritas. Beau knowing Xander would want in on this went and grabbed him and quicker than lightning, Xander, and for now the party, had a house by the lake! The shady merchant had promised a fully furnished house though the party soon discovered the place to be barren… save for a strange wooden crate in one of the three bedrooms. 

With caution, Aron used his mage hand to open the box and out jumped a raccoon of all things! The gang spent the better part of the afternoon attempting to catch the little critter before Akiro managed to grab it. She named it Ezekiel before it gave a wink and disappeared in a puff of smoke nearly as soon as it had arrived.

Sleep found them that night as they were all tired from the misadventures of the raccoon. They had made a plan to furnish the house with Arons help and some raw materials though… the price was more than anyone could truly pitch in to pay for so they decided to go job hunting in the morning.

The sun rose as normal and the party, some already awake while others took more time to rise, began about their days. Xander snuck off for a little bit to do some rogue shenanigans while Beau and Amafrey went to look at the jobs board. A poster advertising a 500gp reward for the person who won an arena fight in the next city over called Mightshire caught their eye. The tournament would start soon and the party rallied everyone up and headed out, making it there around noon. Aron, Amafrey, and Beau all joined the fight. Aron surrendered after the first fight against Amafrey, Beau made it through a few rounds, though it was Amafrey who shone the brightest, winning the 500gp for the party. 

With the ghosts of her past coming back to haunt her, Amafrey handed the gold off to Kallie and went off on her own for a bit. Not long after, Kallie found the gold had been stolen and a note replacing where it had been. A challenge, to fight to win back their gold… 

The party went to the location notated and found themselves in an underground fight pit. The rules were simple, no hold backs, no restrictions, win and they would get back their gold. The party switched in and out of the fights with Kallie and Aron taking the final one. Aron, turned into a gigantic dinosaur, breaking the arena and the building, pissing off just about everyone there, causing mass hysteria in the patrons attending. 

And if a dinosaur wrecking havoc wasn’t bad enough, an oh too familiar man burst through the doors with the city guards at his back pouring in. It was none other than Magnus, who had given the party a days start to run before he would be back on their trail. The rest of the party made it out but Amafrey stayed to corner the little rat who had taken their gold and in turn, was cornered by Magnus. 

He offered her his help, no matter how many times she denied it. It took much convincing to not kill the little rat she had choking in her hands though, with the gold safely in her possession and the scrawny man left quaking and cowering, she managed to get out of there. Magnus told her he would never be too far behind them…

Returning home, the party bought the supplies they needed and fully furnished the house, calling it a night. Aron worked his magical abilities and created everything overnight as the party woke to all of the furnishings. Kallie had even carved out a basement! The house was shaping up to be a decent home, even if it may be temporary to most of them. 

Another day came upon the party, Xander once more set off to do his thing, Kallie went to buy paint and paper, and Aron did what he could to learn about the three runestones the party had. With his new knowledge, he bid the party farewell and set off for the college of Ilragorn in order to find more of a use for them. The party may know how to use the runes but… not the first clue of how to use them to stop the tarrasque. With nothing else to do, the jobs board was their target. A person had up a job to get done; slay the gulthias tree that had taken up home in a clearing in the nearby forest, bring back proof for the reward of 140 gold. With no other grand plans, the gang set off towards the forest.

It did not take long to find the path that the gulthias tree had taken as the forest grew more and more dead as they walked. The once vibrant colors fading, becoming muted under the evil aura the tree left as it moved. 

“Hey! The forest is dead like your heart after your blueberry died!” Amafrey jested, nudging Beau, who promptly smacked her upside the head with a sigh. 

Even sooner, the gulthias tree came into view. Kallie walked up to it, attempting to speak with it and find if there was anything she could do to help it. It effectively told her to fuck off before the fight initiated and it swallowed Kallie whole. The fight went on and before long, only a small branch remained of the tree while the rest was reduced to ashes. 

The party made their way back to the house listed to collect the reward and after some storytelling from the old man who answered the door, they got their gold and went off. Robin decided to go to the graveyard to snoop around and Ascal, not trusting him to be there alone, took off after him after a feeble attempt to get Beau and Amafrey to not go restock the house of alcohol after Robin drank most of it that morning, attempting to forget his woes.


	5. A Murder Mystery

The next morning, the party rose and took to the notice board to see what was new to spice up their day. Scanning over the flyers posted, Beau quickly ripped down one of his wanted posters and shoved it into a pocket as a person with a rather large stack of papers approached the board as well, uttering a few words trying to get through the gaggle of adventurers who stepped aside. The person tacked up a few new fliers and gave a nod before telling the group to be safe. It didn’t take much longer to figure out what the concern was for as Kallie read out one of the new papers.

“Well, it says: ‘Warning: a recent string of murders within the city is suspected to be connected. Victims were immediately revivified with necromantic magic, unknown killer, and motive. The council of Lord Drepaine advises citizens to not walk alone at night’. It even has a small list of names in the fine print here,” she read. 

“Guess we know what we’re doing today then!” Ascal replied. “I can’t imagine why someone would do such a horrible thing though…”

“Jealousy, greed, boredom, there’s a lot of reasons,” Robin nonchalantly noted before Ascal gave him a mildly disappointed look.

“How do we want to go about this? There are five names on the list and…” Kallie paused to do a quick headcount, “seven of us.”

“If we split up we could cover more ground and meet back up at the notice board,” Amafrey suggested. 

A bit more discussion later of who would be going to where and who would partner up and who would go solo, the party split up. Kallie went to talk to the first noted victim: Borislava Behringer. It took a bit of asking around to find the house but in the meantime, Kallie learned that Borislava is an opera singer and lived not too far away from the locals. Once at the house, it took a bit of convincing to get her to talk but Borislava revealed that though she did not remember much of the killer, she did have a scrap of fabric from when the killer tried to flee that she had identified to be from Ithea, a country across the sea off the south-western side of Kardine. With this information learned, Kallie started her way back to the notice board.

Amafrey was tasked with finding the second victim listed: a merchant named Brigid Zawisza. It didn’t take long of walking around the merchant stalls to find Brigid and after a bit of chatting, Amafrey didn’t learn much more than when she had started. All she discovered was that Brigid had been closing up her stand, humming to herself before she was killed and the rest was history. With this fragment of information, Amafrey turned back to head to the notice board.

Xander made his way through the streets in search of the fifth victim on the list: Kleon Zegers. It took asking around a bit to find the general area where Kleon was at. Towards the town center, he found the bard performing and waited until he had a pause before walking up and asking about the murder. Xander learned that Kleon had been working on a song as he was walking back home one night and was killed. Once the bard was back to life he found there was a dagger left at the scene. Giving Xander the dagger to investigate, he learned it was purchased from Donny the Dagger Dealer in town and went to procure a list of people who had bought daggers within the time frame of the murders. List in hand, he made his way back towards the notice board.

Deciding it was a bad idea to let either of them go alone, Beau and Vis paired up to go track down the third victim of the murders: Mensur Manco. Asking around, they found their way down to the docks and met with the behemoth of a man. With a bit of chatting and awkward questioning later, Beau and Vis learned that Mensur is a ship's captain. Sadly, he didn’t remember anything from the night of the murder from drinking heavily with his crew besides the fact he was killed as he was leaving the tavern. As Beau and Vis turned to leave they overheard Mensur offhandedly mention that he wouldn’t be able to lead the shanties on the ship anymore.

Not trusting Robin to go alone, Ascal elected to go with him. They were tasked with finding the fourth victim of the murders: Eka Sharma. Wandering about, they learned that Eka is part of the circus that is currently in the town and went to where the circus folk was staying. It didn’t take long asking around the circus folk to get directed to Eka, who they learned was the star singer of the circus that was currently in town. She didn’t remember much of the night of the murder but had found there was a broken vial of blood at the scene when she came back to the next morning. Satisfied with the vial in hand, the pair set off back to the notice board. Robin on the way back, noticed a strange vine growing out of Ascal's shoulder, promptly pulling it out, leaving both him and Ascal confused as to where it came from. 

Once everyone was back at the notice board, it was time to discuss. The party reconvened to discuss the clues they found, quickly concluding that the string of murders was likely jealousy motivated as all of the victims were musically inclined people. The person likely lived down by the docks as that’s where the majority of the shady folk resided as well as proximity to murder locations. While trying to decide what the next plan of action should be, a passing conversation gave them more of a lead.

“Did you hear? Lord Drepaine’s daughter was attacked last night in the same way the others have been.”

“No kidding… even the Lord’s own daughter? I hope something gets done about this soon…”

The party shared a glance at the passing duo then back at each other and with a nod began the march towards Lord Drepaine’s manor in the city. After Robin managed to convince the guards to let the party through with having information on the recent string of murders. Upon being escorted inside, the party, for the first time, is met with the lord of the city. Drepaine stood about six foot three with broad shoulders and a 5 o’clock shadow on his face. He had shortish black hair and patches of red scales on his neck and the back of his hands. Lord Drepaine welcomed the party warmly though his words were brief as he apologized for the extra caution after having his own daughter murdered and resurrected and now without much of a voice left. 

The party offered to help, asking if they could speak to his daughter to learn what she remembered and though reluctantly, and Robin almost getting thrown out of the manor after a few comments were taken wrongly, let the group meet the child: Caecilia. Taken up to the room she was staying in, they learned that Caecilia was quite the performer, often singing at state dinners and the likes, and had been on her balcony practicing when she was murdered. Kallie looked around the balcony a bit, finding a few patches of blue draconic scales on the scene and after a bit of analyzing, determined them to be from a kobold. 

With this information now in hand, the party could narrow down their suspects and decided the best place to help narrow down suspects would be the tavern by the docks. With the list Xander had received from Donny the dagger dealer earlier that day, the barkeep was able to narrow down the suspects to one: a blue kobold named Gernot Burns. With an address and nothing of a plan, the group made their way down the streets to the building. 

While trying to quietly decide what to do outside the front door, Amafrey decided she had enough of planning and chose to do: kicking down the door and charging inside, grabbing the little blue kobold by the throat and pinning him to the wall. The rest of the party ran in after her, scanning the room quickly, on the table was an alchemy kit set up with vials of blood similar to the broken one found at the scene. Amafrey demanded the kobold to explain himself and he told the group that he was trying to make a potion to make himself a better singer and two scantily clad people told him that the current method he was using was the best way to do it. Before anyone could reply, there was a flash of steel as the kobold slashed at Amafrey with its vorpal sickle and within another second, Amafrey’s head rolled onto the floor. The remainder of the fight was swift with Akiro firing two arrows into the kobold and Beau sent him up in flames leaving nothing but ashes. When the dust settled and the heat of the flames subsided, the party was left to take in the sight of the beheaded Amafrey. 

Some stood in silence while others held back choking sobs of losing another friend so soon. Someone was about to speak when the corpse of their friend began to glow, seeming to come unraveled into ribbons and be spun anew. As the light faded, a familiar yet different form stood before the party. The person standing there was in fact Amafrey, but no longer a human. Instead, she was a half-elf, standing now five foot six instead of six foot five. The scars and tattoos that had defined her as a human, no longer present as a half-elf. Her hair was cropped short and her accent lost but it still was her. Akiro rushed forward to hug Amafrey, babbling on and on in less than coherent sentences to which Amafrey attempted to soothe her as Vis joined in the group hug. Once they pulled away, the party decided it was best to just go home and fill Lord Drepaine in on the transpired events in the morning.


	6. Quest for a Potion

The night had been passing by peacefully for most, Amafrey and Beau were talking on the roof and having a few drinks over the events of the day and other moments. Most everyone else was comfortably asleep until there was a shrill shriek of panic, loud enough to wake the house. Everyone rushed for the sound of the shriek, some with weapons drawn or a spell prepared to fire, they found Ascal panicked, covered in vines that she desperately tried to rip from her body. Robin and Kallie helped her pull the rest of the growing masses off while the rest began to formulate a plan on what to do. The best they could formulate at the ripe hour of just past midnight was to go to the temple and see if the Ascal could ask her patron Louhi for advice on how to rid herself of the vines. 

Dressing tiredly, the majority of the party soon reconvened in the living room before marching to the temple in the city. It did not take long before they entered through the doors and Ascal found a room to commune in. The rest of the group waited for her in the main chamber, some more awake than others. She returned about half an hour later with information that though they may work, she was told that lesser restoration nor greater restoration would be able to help her case. Kallie had strong doubts about that, expressing her worry to the rest of the party later that whatever was happening to Ascal was affecting her mental state too. With what limited ideas they had left, the party tried a few different spells to no avail before returning home.

Nearly everyone went back to sleep once through the doors of the house, parting ways with a round of sleepy ‘good night’s. Beau went down to the basement to check on Vis at her work station. Descending the steps and poking his head around the corner, he saw her hard at work still over her alchemy tools and notebook, and spooked her a bit when he asked what she was doing.

Vis, excited that someone took interest in her project quickly explained that she was getting extremely close to figuring out the substitutes for the blood potion the kobold had been working on. She mentioned that she had been up all night working on it and Beau shot her the concerned parent look and gently told her to go sleep for a bit, mentioning she’d be able to do better work when rested. After many complaints and protests of productivity from Vis, Beau just picked her up from her bench and walked back upstairs and tucked her into bed much to her dismay, though she soon fell asleep not long afterward. 

Morning soon came as the sun rose over the city in hues of oranges and purples and the mist of the morning started burning off. As breakfast was being had, Vis took her breakfast and went back down to her work station. Sometime around eleven, Vis ran upstairs, her goggles on her forehead and a bright smile on her face as she squeaked out that she figured the potion out. The rest of the party gave her a small round of applause to which she blushed a bright red before continuing on, telling the party the four ingredients she would need: Harpy feathers, Siren scales, petrified maplewood, and roseweed. Robin mentioned that the petrified maplewood could be found on the island of Far Shore, and figured out most of the rest of the items could be found on the way with a stop in Hullbeck to catch a ferry to the island. 

With a destination and a goal laid out before them, the party set off for Hullbeck playing rounds of I Spy the majority of the way until nightfall came upon them. Finding refuge against the side of the mountains they were walking along, tiny hut was cast and the party began to settle down for the night. A soft melody began to be sung from somewhere nearby and though the majority of the party shrugged it off, the alluring tune rose Amafrey and Robin, dragging them from the hut. Kallie, Xander, and Ascal went after them telling Beau to stay with Vis and keep the tiny hut going in case anything went south. 

The investigative trio soon discovered it was a large nest of harpies, luring their friends closer. With no other brilliant plans as the ten harpies perched around their friends, Kallie walked forward and made conversation. The harpies seemed peaceful enough towards her, taking the compliment on their singing and seeming to enjoy the company. Kallie eventually convinced them to let her two friends go, to which they agreed and she offered an exchange of parting gifts. Curious as to what gift this stranger brought, Kallie presented ten perfectly carved wooden dicks as gifts to each of the harpies, selling it by telling them that the statues are a fertility charm and bring prosperity, and asks in exchange for a token to remember them each by suggesting a feather. The harpies considered it for a moment before asking for a… demonstration of how these charms worked. With Kallie accepting the offer, Robin, Amafrey, Ascal, and Xander quickly left as she got carried off for the night by the harpies.

Once back at the tiny hut, Beau asked where Kallie was and promptly was told he did not want to know. Electing not to question it, the rest of the night passed uneventfully. With morning rising, Kallie returned, a bit scratched up and marked but quite content with a handful of harpy feathers for Vis and enough to make herself a mantle. With the party now whole again, they continued their trek to Hullbeck uneventfully. Paying way for a ferry across the party settled in on the boat as it began towards the island of Far Shore. It was getting late in the day when the boat neared the docks. Off in the water a short ways were what Robin identified to be a small group of sirens. Amafrey, having zero self-preservation skills, dove into the water with Kallie joining her as a water elemental.

The sirens were surprised at the approach of Amafrey and even more surprised when she asked the sirens what it would take to part with a few scales. After a bit of conferring, the sirens asked what shiny objects Amafrey had to trade, to which Amafrey pulled out a pouch of 50 gold and inturn collected 130 scales. The pair met back up with the group at the docks, Amafrey handed Vis the scales she needed and the group proceeded into the city to find an inn to stay at for the evening. 

After a decent night's rest, the party decided it was time to shop around and find what they could. Kallie went to try and find the roseweed with Amafrey and Beau while Xander, Akiro, Robin, and Vis went to try and find the petrified maplewood. While out shopping, Amafrey managed to sell the extra siren scales she acquired for a good bit of money and Kallie bought the roseweed Vis would need. Beau’s eyes scanned over the marketplace when a strange vendor caught his eye and evidently he had caught the vendor’s attention as he got beckoned over. The vendor appeared to be elven and did not have too many wares but looking at what he did have, the one item that caught Beau’s eye was a music box. The vendor never gave a name though noticing Beau’s interest in the music box, picked it up, and held it out to him, explaining that it was quite old yet quite the gem. It played a gentle song that may or may not have sparked a few memories as the song playing was one that Kyoku would often sing on sleepless nights. Beau asked how much it was and was met with an answer of a ridiculous amount of gold… or a favor. Beau already had his suspicions about the vendor, figuring him to be fae, asked what the favor would be and the man responded quite vaguely. Despite knowing better, Beau accepted to the exchange of favors, with a nagging sense that the music box would be useful for more than just himself.  
Meeting back up at the inn, Robin and Akiro informed the other three that the petrified maplewood could be found on the northern side of the island. Usually, there were shops in town that would sell it, though their supply line had been cut off as a thick fog settled along the area and though adventurers had wandered up there to get some, none had made it back. Prepared for a fight, they set off to the north end of the island. 

Eventually, the group came upon a split path and resting against the sign between the fork in the road, was a spirit. Cautiously and curiously the party approached and asked what it was doing. The spirit introduced himself as Oregano, he had been a farmer of the maplewood trees just up the path and told them of his pet Basilisk that lives where the farm had once been. When asked how he died, Oregano told the party that there was an old music box he would use to keep his pet calm and one day lost it, mentioning he’s been missing it for around three to four hundred years. Beau asked him to describe the box and the song it played, the description matching that of the music box Beau had acquired and Oregano confirmed that it was indeed the same one. With a little more direction from Oregano on how to get to the old farm, the party veered down the path on the left and stepped foot into the thick rolling fog that only grew thicker as they went. 

The party stealthed up the hill, cresting the top though the area was barely visible to them. A heavy footfall shook the ground as through the fog, a pair of red eyes blinked at them. The fog parted to reveal the now gargantuan creature as it stared hungrily down at them, its breath a hiss as it watched. Beau pulled the music box out from his pocket and began to wind it up for it to play, the melody instantly calming the monstrosity as it swayed its head to the gentle rhythm. While the basilisk was distracted, Amafrey took to hacking away at one of the petrified stumps, collecting enough for Vis as the song began to end. Now content, the basilisk slithered its way back down the cliffside into a cave below them, and with the mist fading, the party booked it back down the hill before the creature decided it wanted an encore. Oregano was still resting against the signpost at the fork and upon seeing the mist clearing and the party returned, he said he was pleased that his beloved pet was now calm and his spirit could move on from Far Shore and adventure around. With Oregano fading out to adventure, the group returned to town as the sun began to set.


	7. Revenge of the Gulthias Tree

The next morning, the party awoke to a panicked Ascal, nearly covered in the thick vines. Kallie had enough of watching her friend suffer and decided to cast lesser restoration. With the spell completed, the vines shriveled and fell from her form and Ascal, quite tiredly, told them she’d be going back to sleep. With a sleeping Ascal backpacked onto Robin, the party caught the ferry back to Hullbeck, staying the night in the city. 

The next morning, Ascal woke though she had no memory of the party, and no memory of how she got there. The party looked concerned back and forth to each other before Robin filled her in with a heavy sigh on the way back to Drakyai. Kallie took Ascal back to the house along with Vis while Beau, Robin, and Xander set off to the library. Beau and Robin were in search of information on the Gulthias tree and the parasite that had attached itself to Ascal while Xander sought out some more personal reading. 

Between the two wizards searching and skimming through books, they learned that the parasite stems from the piercing attack of the Gulthias tree. As the menace grows, it will influence the hosts’ mind in several ways and once fully matured, the parasitic plant becomes sentient though is unable to completely override the hosts' control. The vines it causes serve as armor while the hosts’ body serves as mobility while committing acts of violence and evil as influenced by the parasite. Removing the parasite at its later stages of development caused varying levels of memory loss with no known way to restore said memories. 

Robin sighed in defeat shutting the tome in front of him after learning there was no known way to fix Ascal’s problem. Beau thought for a moment knowing one more source that could possibly help solve their problem. Focusing for a moment, he cast sending to Beatrix, asking if she had made any progress in restoring her own memories. It took a moment before he got a reply, telling him to meet her at The Fishbowl Inn in Perilshaw in a week's time. With this new lead and Xander having found the information he sought, the trio went back to the house. 

Ascal was quite chipper as she set a shovel down as the trio approached the house. Upon seeing the trio approach she gleefully said that she took care of the skeleton problem in the basement that they were having. Beau and Xander stifled a laugh as Robin gave a heavy sigh now that his skeletons were back in the earth after he worked so hard to raise them properly. Exhausted from a short yet quite long day it was time to sleep yet again. 

The next morning, Vis excitedly ran upstairs with six potion vials in her hands for everyone to go distribute to the victims of the murders. The victims were thankful and Lord Drepaine offered payment to be delivered for their work not only solving the murder cases but then for Vis going above and beyond to repair the damage caused. He asked Beau and Vis what their party’s name was and to which they replied that the group had never discussed it though would inform him once it was figured out. With all the potions distributed, the party regrouped at the house to discuss what their group name should be. There were many ideas thrown around before Xander suggested The Rune Keepers. Everyone seemed to like that and in agreeance, they told Lord Drepaine that their group is called The Rune Keepers.


	8. Devils and Demons

Another day, another job it seemed. As the day rose, so did the party, some more begrudgingly than others with the tendrils of sunlight beginning to streak through the curtains. Breakfast was enjoyed before the routine of checking the board began. They had expected something more typical for the day: a fetch quest, a bounty for a mildly menacing creature or two, or an advertisement for some money-rewarded activity a town over. Instead, they noticed a hastily scrawled poster about a mad man, raving about returning his Messiah to the mortal plane just outside of Miteshire a little ways north of Drakyai. Deciding that having yet another menace to potentially deal with of this degree was a headache for the current moment, the Rune Keepers started north towards the small town of Miteshire. 

It was about half a day’s travel to the city and did not take long before the party caught wind of where they should go. A group of about thirty guards rushed by them as they started into the city before deciding to follow after. 

In a large field a little ways outside the city was indeed a mad man. A large circle of guards stood around him with spears drawn. In the center of the circle, the man cackled and raved about this Messiah of his, drawing runes and sigils into an area he had cleared in the dirt. Kallie asked the guards if the party could assist in this matter, and once the offer was accepted they jumped into action. 

Kallie cast hold person and the madman froze in his raving and drawing, falling over into the dirt he drew on. Beau and Amafrey made quick work of tying the man up as Xander, Ascal, and Akiro worked to erase the marks of the sigils drawn. Once hold person faded, the interrogation began. The Rune Keepers learned that the Messiah this man spoke of was named Tanziem, a powerful bunny-esque fiend known otherwise as an Orycto. Feeling far too confident in having the madman restrained and the sigils brushed over, the party took to antagonizing him and the guards before handing him over. As the exchange happened, the madman managed to slip his hands free, slicing his hand with a dagger and throwing the now blood covered dagger onto the circle Ascal was working to finish covering, saying something about how nothing could stop his Messiah from returning.

Sure enough, the circle began to glow an angry red as the huge form of a very angry looking rabbit materialised, shrieking like an eldritch horror. With it burrowing into the ground and spitting fire at the group it took a moment and when the fight began to seem unwinnable, Ascal cast banishment and with a puff of lime green radiance, the Orycto was sent back to its home plane. Akiro rushed to an almost dead Xander, using the water rune she guarded to heal him. When he would not stand up, she then unleashed the Bee’s spell jar on him, revoking the majority of the healing she had done. 

The guards insisted that the mad man had his rights to a free trial when the party insisted that this man, who just tried to release another powerful fiend onto Kardine to reign destruction, should be killed. After much arguing Kallie and Beau exchanged a look as Kallie wildshaped into her earth elemental form and grabbed the madman by the collar and held him away from the guards for Beau to take aim. For the millionth time in his life, Beau played the cards of judge, jury, and executioner, reducing the man to ashes with the flames of a scorching ray, and with irritation spoke the verdict of the madman’s death. The guard stood there shocked as the party began the march back to Drakyai for dinner and another night's rest. 

Another dawn rose with clear skies and warm hues though their usual routine was interrupted now by a new mystery to investigate. As someone went to go check the morning mail, on their doorstep was an odd assortment of trinkets, flowers, and arrows addressed to Akiro, with a note attached addressing her as “Goddess”. After breakfast and much confusion, including Amafrey mistaking an urn for a pot of coffee grounds, the party decided to investigate the apparent offerings to the Goddess Akiro. 

Asking around the town only left them with more questions than answers, with every answer getting more confused by the hour, even the shopkeep at the flower stand was vague, mentioning that many people were having dreams of a red aarakrocra wielding a bow. The word of the party’s adventures were being equated to Akiro’s doing alone. Deciding as the sun was setting and headaches ensuing that it was best to return home, the party tried to make sense of what was happening and began to discuss the game plan for the following morning. Dinner and drinks were had as the sun fully hid behind the mountains and city wall leaving the dark night sky to consume the last traces of oranges and pinks of an ending day.

The next morning there were more offerings left on the front steps for Akiro which she collected and sorted before the party set out to Peralshaw by way of East Alryne. Making their way through the streets of Drakyai and out the southern gates, it did not take long before a dense fog rolled in. A sense of impending danger crept through the party as Kallie kept a gust going to get them through the thickening cloud before coming across a set of barrels. Perched atop the barrels were, to some of the party, the familiar faces of the succubus and incubus, Adam and Eve. Kallie got a confused look on her face before asking who they were only for Beau and Xander to give an exhausted groan. Intense music began to play out of nowhere as Eve gave a short laugh.

“Your end is near.”  
“Now that we’re here!  
“To bring the world to devastation.”  
“To start it here within this nation.”  
“To reap the poison that we sow.”  
“To raise the fallen from bellow.”  
“Eve!”  
“And Adam.”  
“Team Devil strikes in the blink of an eye!~”  
“Surrender now or prepare to die!”

The party just gave a heavy sigh as the duo finished their introductory monologue that occurred every single time they appeared. With the back and forth banter between the devils and the party out of the way it came to the moment to fight. From within the fog cloud sprung eight massive blue and white phase spiders that began to bombard the party. 

Electing that the spiders could be dealt with later, Kallie set her sights on Eve, casting a nasty round of blight at her and with a bonus casting of curse-you, Eve crumpled onto the stone below them in the turn. Seeing Eve go down so quickly, Beau turned his attention towards Adam.

“If I couldn’t take out your leader, I’ll at least take you out,” he hissed before launching a volley of scorching rays towards the devil, “that, is for Kyoku.”  
When the smoke cleared the devil looked like he was barely standing and managed a weak chuckle. 

“You should have learned from the last time, we will always get the final say.” Adam smirked as he raised a hand, pointing a finger at Kallie who had been badly injured already by the spiders. A ray of sickening energy seared towards her, just before it reached her, it fizzled out. Adam raised an eyebrow just as Beau finished casting a counterspell to what he knew was finger of death. 

The rest of the spiders were quickly picked off. Taking a second to breath and to begin to reconvene a beam of acid shot through the group nearly killing four of them. Turning to see what attacked, the sound of beating wings bore down on them and the ground shook with the landing of the ancient, one-horned, black dragon named Laraek. Another round of combat ensued, the party holding on by a thread against the monstrosity. 

After bloodying the dragon it snarled. 

“You are lucky I am not here to kill. I’m just here to collect a few idiots,” he said, grabbing the fallen bodies of Adam and Eve before flying off. Now securely safe, the party decided it was best to walk back into the city from the gates they had just left not even an hour previously and try towards East Alryne and Peralshaw the next day. Wounded and barely alive, the group stumbled back through the city, a few members of the town asking them if they needed help getting back home to which they just continued walking. 

Even with a night of rest, the group was still sore and tired the next morning as they were roused by people talking in front of the house, saying prayers to their Lady Akiro. Akiro opened the door and attempted to ask questions to the praying people, trying to get them to just leave and stop worshiping on their doorstep. As the party watched from the living room, Akiro began to gain a celestial glow the longer she interacted with them. Once the door was closed, Amafrey used her divine sense, focusing for a moment before her eyes flashed an electric blue and she looked around for a moment: Akiro did indeed ping as a celestial, though only a little bit. Beau noted that this was a very rare occurrence when KuaToa are not involved. In the cases of mortals becoming gods, usually, they would have some sort of celestial blood or demigod status prior to ascending and the faith held by their worshippers holding great power and influence. Deciding this was a problem not solvable in a day, the group set out to East Alryne a second time, hoping to not fight a dragon this time, to catch a boat up to Peralshaw.


	9. Old Friends and New Faces

Another day crept upon the party as dawn rose warmly after a cold and quiet night. Sore and tired from the near-death experience the previous day they ate breakfast and then once again set out towards East Alryne. The trek there this time went uninterrupted by dragons or devils. Once in East Alryne, the group made their way down to the docks and Amafrey haggled a price with the captain of a cargo ship routed to Peralshaw. An hour later, they boarded the ship and began the journey across the bay. 

Ascal started to try and pass the time by asking the party more about themselves since she now didn’t remember any of them. Kallie, Beau, and Akiro shared a little bit while Amafrey and Xander dodged the question entirely. As night began to fall the ship was nearly halfway across the bay when there was a sharp tilt to the right and the party went up top to see what was causing it. As the sun was setting there was still enough light to see that there was a massive whirlpool pulling the ship towards the center. A large orb pulsing with a magenta light sat at the bottom of the whirlpool which reached the bottom of the bay. While looking around, the boat was bumped, jostling the crew as a large shadow swam beneath the waters’ surface, slowly rising to reveal a gargantuan, alligator-like head. The ship continued to be pulled towards the center orb while the gargantuan methgator continued to swim around and ram into the ship. 

The party struggled to fight the alligator, finding neither spells nor weapons could pierce through its hide. Its eyes glowed a similar color to the center orb. Amafrey and Kallie came up with a plan, connecting the orb to the creature. The goal was to shatter the orb. Kallie turned into a giant eagle and carried Amafrey over top of the orb and let her fall. Amafrey wielded her greatsword and dropped straight onto the orb, driving her blade through the center of the glass and shattered it to dust. The party still on the ship watched as the alligator creature shrunk in size and swam towards Amafrey, who looked like quite a meal to it though it was soon dead in a zap of lightning as Amafrey raged, dragging the corpse onto the ship. She claimed its skull as her trophy and come morning, the boat docked in Peralshaw.

As the party made their way off the ship Beau received a message from Beatrix, mentioning to only bring a small group to meet at The Fishbowl noting that she and her mother were trying to keep a low profile. Beau translated the message to the party and decided it would be best if he, Ascal, and Robin were the three to go. The rest of the group went to adventure around Peralshaw and run some errands as Amafrey had a new helm to have made. Parting ways, Beau, Ascal, and Robin started to make their way towards the Fishbowl while the others began to look for stores. The larger group stumbled across a gathering by a fountain. A rather regal looking copper-ish dragonborn woman was standing in the square, her plate armor glinting in the sun as she gave a farewell speech saying she was leaving the guard in the service of her family and due to personal values and reasons that no longer fit her family’s values. Some of the guards seemed surprised though most did not. Those not surprised were dawning military police armor. Xander scanned across the faces of the military police present and immediately withdrew and cast disguise self to hide seeing a familiar face from his past. 

As the trio made their way towards the Inn, Beau received another message to meet Beatrix and her mom at the back corner booth to which he replied they would be there in a few minutes. Walking through the doors, Beau quickly spotted the familiar face of his friend and the trio made their way to the corner booth. He introduced her to Robin and Ascal and in return, Beatrix introduced her mother Felicia. Between Beau and Robin, they managed to explain Ascal’s situation and were regretfully informed that there was no immediate fix. The mother-daughter duo had been working on a way to fix Beatrix’s amnesia previously and if successful it could potentially help Ascal. 

Felicia noted that ever since she had run into the party in the Underdark and took Beatrix with her, she and Beatrix had been on the run from Sazakriel. She had ditched her army of the undead and since then the pair hadn’t been staying in one city for very long. Beau and Robin extended the offer to let them travel with the party and after deciding it would be safer, Beatrix and Felicia joined them. The group then went to meet up with the other half of the party and after a short round of introductions, decided it was best to go back to Drakyai with the help of Kallie casting windwalk.

Once back at the house, Kallie decided to check in on Aron via scrying. She saw him surrounded by tomes and all the academic resources he could have ever dreamed of looking quite content. She had another target to try and find afterward. Ascal had given her a letter that was from her family, she was hoping that maybe learning about her family would help with her amnesia. Kallie restarted the ritual for scrying and not long after the spell failed. She apologized to Ascal for being unable to get anything out of it before the two went to bed. 

When morning rose the party went about a rather normal day except when going to get groceries and supplies to repair some items in the house, the party learned that Amafrey was now being worshipped as a battle goddess, her followers dedicating street fights to her. Frustrated, Amafrey told them off and said to go do something useful with their lives instead of fighting uselessly in the streets in her name. With another party member being worshipped, the party considered if there was any possible connection to the runestones. Akiro was the first to be worshipped and held onto the water rune while Amafrey, now being worshipped, held the fire rune. Finding nothing to connect these two dots, however, the party continued to come up with conspiracy theories of why this is happening and if someone else may be next. 

Once home, groceries were put away, dinner was prepared by Beau and Ascal while Amafrey perched on the counter watching, demanding samples as they went. The night was otherwise uneventful with a night of chatter and a few stories being told.


	10. A Wand Measuring Contest

Another clear morning broke through the shade of night with rose-tinted fingers as the majority of the party began to rouse from their sleep. Ascal was already in the kitchen by sunrise starting to make breakfast as Beau made coffee for the morning for everyone. The usual routine of waiting until around nine to check the door commenced. Once Amafrey was awake, she went to collect the offerings that by now were placed on their doorstep giving the ones for Akiro to her. A quiet breakfast was had as most were trying to wake up for the day to a coherent state before going to the notice board to find the shenanigans to pursue for the day.  
A rather empty notice board was quite a sad sight to see as the party walked up to see what jobs may have been posted. With nothing more than a few missing pet notices, a wanted poster or two for petty thieves, and fetch quests for groceries, the party began to make their way back to the house when a passing conversation caught their ears. Two girls passing by were talking of some interesting and magical happenings in a city to the southeast called Belldrake. The near promise of a more magic involved adventure had the casters of the party intrigued and a bit excited to investigate something they may have more expertise in for once. 

After swinging by the house once more to grab a few items and drop some off, the party headed out the south gate of Drakyai and started the trek down the road to Belldrake. The day was bright with fluffy clouds drifting across the sky and a gentle breeze blew across the fields as they walked along. Cresting over a hill the party spotted a small group of goblins at the bottom just a ways off. Akiro recognized one of them to be their friend Boblin and the party approached to ask if they needed help. Boblin and his crew explained that they were in the process of finding their way back to their home in the deserts on the northern side of Kardine. After the party set their map straight… and in the proper orientation, they pointed the goblin band in the correct direction and the party resumed their way to Belldrake, arriving maybe an hour later. 

The city was grand and regal much like Drakyai, save for the draconic influence that held the aesthetic of Drakyai’s architecture in a scaled claw. The city of Belldrake held more of a divine influence: the symbology and divinity of the gods carved into the stonework of the buildings. As the party walked through the elegant gates it did not take long before a loud boom rippled through the air. Gazing up at the sky, a brilliant display of pyrotechnics glittered in the midday sky, the bursts of color seemed to come to life and dance through the air before fizzling out. After taking a moment to marvel at the display, the party began in the direction of the fireworks display, asking a few people along the way for more specific directions to the building the fireworks came from. Arriving not much later at the front of a tower-esque building, the party knocked on the wooden door. 

“Just a moment!” an older sounding voice called. 

The party waited for a few moments before hearing the deadbolt on the door undo and open. An older tortle was standing there and asked the party what they were knocking about. Kallie noted about the fireworks, noting how impressive the display was. The tortle introduced himself as Urien and invited the party inside to chat more. Once inside, he made tea for those who accepted the offer and started to explain the process of how he did his pyrotechnics, in the process, mentioning that he had a rival in the city named Newt. When further prompted, Urien explained that Newt was a young whippersnapper who was trying to outshine Urien’s classic pyrotechnical work.

While sipping tea, there was a loud crackling sound and the feeling of electricity before a storm. Looking out the window there was a large bout of chain lightning in the shape of a middle finger pointed towards Urien’s residence, stemming from another tower on the other end of the city. When Kallie asked Urien about the display which Urien confirmed to be Newt’s work. The party decided it would be best to go talk to Newt and see what they may be able to do to solve this rivalry before someone gets hurt in the crossfire of magical fireworks. 

Heading off to the tower they had seen previously and upon knocking on the door, met Newt: a small grung who was quite lively. The party entertained him for a moment before asking about his rivalry with Urien. After a series of complications, Newt decided to settle the debate of who was the better wizard once and for all and issued an official challenge for Urien, asking the party to deliver the message. At sundown, the two would meet to show off their magic and prove who the superior magic-user is. Obliging, the party quickly departed and delivered the challenge, which Urien accepted. 

Once the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, the party made their way towards the city center where the main plaza had been cleared out for the evening's event. People were beginning to gather around with snacks and drinks, gossiping about what would be seen during the display. As the sun sunk lower and lower in the sky with dusk fading into the dark of night, the displays of magic began. Grandiose displays of giants made from smoke, dragons made of fire, and other mystical magical creatures being manipulated to dance within the air around them and over the cheering crowd. With the cheers of the crowd deciding the victor, Urien was crowned as the best of the two wizards. The celebration was cut short as a Roc swooped down angrily, snagging Urien in its flight path. Newt, panicked, cast fly on the party and the group ascended into the sky to rescue their newfound tortle friend. After some daring maneuvers and a friend nearly crashing into the ground, the Roc was shooed off and everyone safely returned to the ground. As gratitude for his rescue, Urien gave the party a scroll for his smoke giant illusion which Beau copied down that night and gave the scroll to someone else in the party. Settling down in their rooms at the local inn, the party took a rest and began the trek back to Drakyai in the morning.

The morning was calm with clouds overhead as the party made their way down the road, the crunch of their feet joining the sound of wind and songbirds on the air. After a bit, Beatrix tugged on Beau’s sleeve.

“I, um… I noticed that Kyoku wasn’t with the party,” she started nervously, “where is he? Did he stay at the house you mentioned? Or…”

Beau gave a heavy sigh, knowing that he would have to explain what happened to her eventually. 

“Well… soon after you had left with your mother back in the Underdark, we ended up finding the fire rune. It was given as an offering to the kraken that the kua-toa had turned into their god and he gave it to us. As we were going to leave, one of the kua-toa ran up saying there was an approaching army and well, the kraken asked us to create a distraction while the city evacuated. We said yes and went to do so.” 

Beatrix watched his expression, a feeling of dread dropping into her stomach as he continued.

“We… made a stupid plan. It was my stupid plan, but we split up. Kyoku and Amafrey took the real rune stone and ran in one direction while we took a decoy in the opposite. A few minutes later we were standing by the leyline and Sazakriel walked forward with each of them in a hand. We were able to save Amafrey… but....” his voice getting caught in his throat, “but, Sazakriel threw Kyoku into the leyline… I-I tried to stop him but… he didn’t make it out.” 

Beatrix took a moment to take in what he had said before sniffling as the tears began to stream down her face as she sobbed for the loss of one of her few friends. Beau pulled her into a hug, stopping them in the road for a moment as he tried to console his friend. It took a while to calm her down enough to resume walking a now sorrowful trail back towards Drakyai.


End file.
